MONITORING OF EXTREME TEMPERATURES TO EVALUATE THE INTERACTION BETWEEN CLIMATE CHANGE AND HUMAN HEALTH IN COASTAL AREAS

Climate change can affect coastal areas in a variety of ways. These zone are sensitive to sea level rise, changes in the frequency and intensity of storms, increases in precipitation, and warmer ocean temperatures. In addition, rising atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) are causing the oceans to absorb more of the gas and become more acidic. This rising acidity can have significant impacts on coastal and marine ecosystems. High temperatures are increasing in recent years. Extreme weather events, such as heat waves, are one of the hallmarks of global climate change. In light of climate change and rising frequency of extreme weather events, the impact of weather on human health is affecting widely the scientific community. In particular the associations between high temperatures and mortality are well studied. Weather conditions are natural factors that affect the human organism. Recent works shown that the temperature threshold at which an impact is seen varies by geographic area and season. In this paper, the heat wave-related hospital admissions were analyzed for the summer period (June – August) of 2012, for two city located in Ionian area of Italy: Matera and Policoro. Meteorological variables of the Matera and Policoro measuring stations were retrieved from the regional agency for development and innovation in agriculture (Italian acronym – ALSIA). Starting from these data, bioclimatic indicators were calculated and compared with hospital admissions, in order to identify a correlation with heat waves.